LAKE BUENA VISTA, Fla. — Since the New York Yankees signed Jacoby Ellsbury, there has been a fair amount of buzz around the status of Brett Gardner, who is entering his final year before free agency and has rather obviously been pushed out of both the leadoff spot and center field by the new man in pinstripes.

The Cincinnati Reds reportedly tried to pry Gardner away from the Yankees by offering up Brandon Phillips as a replacement for Robinson Cano at second base, but according to CBS Sports' Jon Heyman, among others, New York rejected that offer.

The reasoning behind the Yankees rejecting a Gardner-Phillips swap is fairly obvious. Gardner figures to make somewhere in the neighborhood of $4 million in arbitration, while Phillips has four years and $50 million left on his contract. In 2013, Gardner had a .273/.344/.416 line, while Phillips' batting average, on-base, and slugging were .261/.310/.396. Gardner is 30, while Phillips is 32, and for their careers, their respective lines are .268/.352/.381 and .271/.320/.429. So, even if both players' 2013 efforts involve some regression to their track records, the Yankees would stand to gain little from such a trade other than a payroll albatross at a time when they are trying to cut their 2014 salary obligations to $189 million.

The best move for the Yankees is to keep Gardner on the cheap for one more year, play him in left field, bat him ninth, and fill second base another way. How much time Kelly Johnson gets there remains to be seen, and depends heavily on whether the Yankees wind up signing Omar Infante, although the New York Daily News that the Kansas City Royals are more likely to wind up with the former Detroit Tigers infielder.

Johnson had a .723 OPS against right-handed pitchers in 2013, so platooning him with an inexpensive right-handed hitter is a viable option. It also would free New York to spend more of its budget on starting pitching, which remains a need.

Cruz was a bad idea for the Mariners before they added Hart and Morrison. Now, he's an even worse idea. Adding Cruz would pretty much ensure the end of Justin Smoak's time in Seattle, and it's a toss-up whether a trio of Cruz, Hart, and Morrison at left field, DH, and first base would really be that much better than Ibanez, Morales, and Smoak — or even if it would be an upgrade at all.

One good piece of news for the Mariners is that David Price remains in play, and possibly without top pitching prospect Taijuan Walker being part of the return, according to Bob Dutton of the Tacoma News-Tribune. That could be related to Smoak's marginalization in Seattle, but it's still hard to see, even with Robinson Cano on board, how the Mariners plan to score enough runs to contend.

PHILLIES: Trying to offload Jonathan Papelbon is proving to be a difficult exercise, as one source told CSN Philadelphia, "They're selling the (crap) out of him." A willingness to pay part of the closer's $13 million annual salary is not pushing things along as much as the Phillies might hope it would.

Papelbon's strikeout rate dropped precipitously this past season, from 11.8 per nine innings in 2012 to 8.3 in 2013. It's pretty easy to see why nobody would be interested in giving up talent to acquire Papelbon when Joaquin Benoit, owner of a 9.8 strikeouts per nine innings rate in 2013, is reportedly looking for $7-10 million a year.
https://twitter.com/Buster_ESPN/status/411113614183903232

JAMEY CARROLL:Heyman says the Rays, Rangers, and Indians are among the teams interested in the 39-year-old infielder.

Whichever team winds up with Carroll will be better off for it, as he is, without question, the best player in baseball. Not that there's any bias here. Nope, not at all.